The Letdown Lowdown: Month 7

Breastfeeding this month definitely had some ups and downs. My supply is still pretty low, and I am starting to doubt whether my baby gets enough on the weekends. I just can’t keep him interested long enough to get a lot out. He gets distracted every 5 seconds. He tends to wake up more if he doesn’t get at least one bottle during the day.

He loves solids, so that is reassuring I guess.

We continue to supplement. He gets a bottle of formula almost every night before bed. I know he will eat it all (and I can see how much) and he eats much quicker without getting distracted. And it is just easier because I am home with the baby and toddler most nights.

I don’t feel any guilt at supplementing, but I do feel the pressure of it impacting my supply, so I have to be extra diligent about pumping at home each night (which is kind of a pain). But I usually get enough at night to get enough to finish up bottles for the next day. I supplement with a bag from the freezer or formula when I need to.

Two of the worst moments this month were leaving the cooler bag of bottles out on the counter overnight  and having a bottle of milk spill in my cooler bag at work.

We’re still on the same schedule, nurse in the morning around 7, 3 bottles at daycare, nurse sometimes when we get home around 6, bottle before bed around 7, then I pump at night around 9, and then my baby wakes up once during the night between 2 and 4 am and nurses. on the weekends, its nurse every 2-3 hours and a bottle at bed time.  He also eats 3 jars of food during the day. At work I pump usually 3 times, but sometimes only twice.

I’ve definitely become even more comfortable with nursing in public or nursing in front of others (friends and family). I’ve also been in situations where I had to stay somewhere I could watch my toddler, and the baby needed to nurse, so I couldn’t just go to another room.

I often think about how easy it would be to stop, but with winter cold and flu season coming up, I just feel like the potential benefits my baby can get from breastmilk out weigh the sacrifices I have to make.